IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 12

Describe a happy event of your life.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer:

No doubt, we live in a very modern, tough and complicated world where time is in very short supply. But, still, we steal some times for ourselves from our hectic schedules to escape from the boredom of our daily routines in order to make our lives a bit more colourful and interesting whenever presented with an opportunity. And what an opportunity it really was in 2010 that became one of the joyful events of my life!

It was the spring semester of 2010 at a local college in my home country – Australia, and I was really busy with my curriculum and studies. Naturally, participating actively in an event like “inter-college” cooking competition was the last thing in my mind until and unless, of course, the event would be telecasted live on a television channel, as I was informed to my pleasant surprise. Everybody deserves his/her 15 minutes of fame. So, when the invitation to participate in the event was handed to me (chosen because of my past records and initiatives in organizing a couple of picnics for my class perhaps), I became really excited with a dose of nervousness in the mix – excited at the prospect of being showed up on TV, happy to experience something new and nervous because I wasn’t really a very good cook even on my best day.

I started my preparation for cooking competition success in full force with a complete invasion of my mother’s kitchen as I really needed to improve on my cooking skills. I was spending more time in our kitchen, practising on cooking some of my favourite dishes, than paying enough attention to my studies. My enthusiasm for the cooking event was no surprise, but what really surprised me was that my parents, always scolding me for not studying enough, were suddenly inspiring and helping me in my cooking endeavour! I guess, they (my parents) also wanted to become a part of my cooking success! After all, how many parents get so lucky to avail such an occasion to see their children on TV! I was thrilled to prepare myself for the competition and the prospect of doing well in it kept me going.

So, anyway, the competition was on, and I poured all my cooking skills and experience in the competition. I am proud to say that I didn’t disappoint my parents and my college as I became the runner-up in that competition. The hard work and determination finally paid off! It was a once-in-a-lifetime event that might have lasted only for a couple of hours, but I will certainly cherish the opportunity for the rest of my life because it was a real confidence-booster and one of the happiest moments in my life.